We are pleased to share this article with its English translation, which we wrote in collaboration with The Art Newspaper Türkiye and which was first published here .
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between Turkey and Germany, aiming to improve post-World War I relations. Today, individuals with Turkish backgrounds constitute the largest minority in Germany, while Germany is the country receiving the most migration from Turkey. We look at the cultural interaction between people with Turkish backgrounds and German communities through the lens of lit.pop, a literature festival celebrating diversity, held in Cologne on March 8-9.
In the photo: Miryam Schellbach, Fatma Aydemir and Antigone Akgün.
Two important artist residency programs are organized to host artists residing in Germany in Istanbul, one especially for the artists from Cologne and the North Rhine-Westphalia region; there is no special programs for artists from Turkey. However, interaction is meaningful only if it is bilateral. Yet, we are at times where traveling abroad is increasingly difficult and when we are becoming more inward-looking, mainly due to economic reasons. As the istanbulberlin team, a project space for cultural encounters between Turkey and Germany in the field of culture and arts, we are preparing a residency program called "Seyir Quartier" where writers from Turkey will be hosted in Cologne, in "Quartier am Hafen" which is an arts center with many artists studios. We were in Cologne, attending to lit.pop to organize an event with institutions and individuals with whom we can develop cooperation and exchange ideas.
Named after literature and popular culture, and bringing different discourses to its program, lit.pop can be described as a "festival within the festival." Since 2001, lit.pop has been held within lit.COLOGNE, one of Europe's largest literature festivals, with over 200 events each year. However, it differs significantly from lit.COLOGNE in terms of its target audience, format, diversity of guest writers, enriched program with film screenings and parties. Among the 18 participants in the program are two writers with Turkish backgrounds, Necati Öziri and Fatma Aydemir.
Literary critic, editor, and moderator of two events of the festival, Miryam Schellbach, states that book presentations were highly participatory and lively; however, she questions the necessity of having two stages. "Why are some writers at lit.COLOGNE and others at lit.pop?" Could they not be on the same stage, was such a distinction necessary? Participant Melis also touches on a similar issue: "Only one space is opened, and it's about identity: are you German or not? However, the issue is not only about identity; I want to hear these voices everywhere."
This year marks the second edition of lit.pop. Bettina Fischer, director of the Literature House Cologne, with whom we had the opportunity to discuss and talk about the previous year of the festival, mentions that the program of the first year, which touched on very interesting themes, managed to reach young people. Unlike literature events in Germany, which are generally followed by an older audience and where literary readings are listened, pondered upon, and then returned home; lit.pop has a lot of audience interaction. Luisa Ringel, one of the two organizers who came up with the idea of lit.pop, also talks about their goal of appealing to a more participatory young audience.
Jana Schröder, who enjoys listening to authors bringing their texts to life, criticizes the interaction between authors and moderators:
There was no space for discussion, rather a feel-good atmosphere was created. There was not so much controversy. Moderators would not really challenge the authors with their questions, it was only back and forth confirmation of each other’s stand points. If there were more opposing views and confrontation, perhaps the audience could be encouraged to think more.
Melis agrees with Schröder, saying, "the festival could not realize its potential due to the harmony" and adds:
In environments where the young others, that is, those who are somewhat political, feminists, or people of color, come together, society is considered a common enemy, and unity is established against it. However, this criticism does not go beyond being an easy one.
If there is one subject currently not up for discussion in Germany, it is the Israel-Palestine issue. Rainer Osnowski, director of lit.COLOGNE, which opened with an event titled “Against Anti-Semitism”, told in an interview with the German News Agency, expresses his intolerance towards the ignorance of one-sided pro-Palestinian statements among the so-called leftists in the cultural sphere. On the other hand, on behalf of lit.pop, Ringel says that they consider it is not their place to say which side is right or wrong and decided not to discuss these issues on stage.
"The most interesting books are written by young immigrant-origin authors"
This year, the Literature House Cologne hosted two authors with Turkish backgrounds, Dinçer Güçyeter and Deniz Utlu, along with Orhan Pamuk. Fischer says, "The most interesting books right now are written by young authors with migration histories or people with other cultural diversities."
Schellbach also agrees that we are in a time when interest in migration stories has increased and states, "There has been a wave, people called it a trend, and I know that people also fear there will be a backlash. German identity is being invented in a better way. Turkish and German communities are historically bound together, and there might be a new Wave in Germany recognizing that now." Ringel also agrees on the intensified interest and adds: "We are too late to give them their due. Right now, the right wing politics are rising in Germany, but on the other hand, the reactions to it and activism against it is also escalating. We can see the reflections of these reactions in the field of culture and arts."
Fischer attributes this interest to the different circumstances in which third-generation writers express themselves: "Now the confidence of the authors are different as well as the current atmosphere."
Publishing in Germany is too white
The atmosphere in which authors find themselves cannot be considered separately from the state of the publishing world. To understand the situation of diversity in the literary scene, we can look at the state of diversity in publishing. According to Schellbach:
There is a lot of criticism about how white the industry is. That is due to the fact that it is very complicated to get jobs in publishing companies. You need to work a lot without being paid before taking the first steps. People should change that for many reasons, first of all it is not fair. But second, there are so many perspectives and ways of lives that are not represented in producing literature. Which makes it even poorer, and less interesting.
Schröder also says that "the festival's sensitivity to diversity did not reflect on the audience's diversity" and mentions similar reasons: "The audience was definitely very white because the tickets were definitely very expensive. So many people could not have been included." She talks about the German phrase "worthless art of writing" that means writing is not initially associated with making money. "The question is also how to support all the young people to feel entitled to claim those spaces and give their voices a stage."
In areas where different cultures coexist, mix, and transform each other, we believe that literature can create a space for curiosity, empathy, and understanding; however, literature needs to overcome some barriers to do so. For example, can we say that all scenes are open to the writers with Turkish backgrounds in Germany? Do these books reach different audiences? Does this cultural interaction resonate in Turkey or do the books of these writers reach readers in Turkey? How much are translations from Turkish being read in Germany?
Although the answers to these questions lead us to the conclusion that there is still a long way to go, considering the stagnation in the publishing sector worldwide, the fact that tickets for the festival sold out weeks in advance holds promise. The presence of lit.pop, which has managed to appeal to young readers and open the stage to different voices, is itself evidence of the great strides made in recent years.
